Silent Heroes: Wildcat

Chapter 45: In the Dark

Flying cross-country on the back of Phoenix had to be one of the coolest things I had ever experienced.  We climbed sharply into the air, leaving the woods and the city lights far behind us.  Julian's huge, fiery wings pumped away on either side of me, taking us higher and higher.  He levelled out well above the clouds.  Looking down, I felt like we were flying over a strange, mysterious landscape of silvery-white mountains.

Julian and Isaac weaved back and forth through the sky, angling their bodies from side-to-side and crisscrossing each other at random intervals.  My stomach swooped every time Julian changed direction.  A light wind pulled at my hair and cooled my face.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  I felt free up here.  The fresh air and wide-open skies were a welcome change from the stuffy, enclosed spaces that dominated the human world.

Doubts still nagged at the back of my mind, but they didn't seem quite so urgent anymore.  All my worries back on the ground suddenly seemed distant and insignificant.  I knew the feeling was most likely temporary, but it helped to calm me down a little bit.

I couldn't say how long we flew.  It felt like hours.  The air was getting a little cool and I was grateful for the warmth that radiated from Julain's shimmering feathers. 

Out of nowhere, it occurred to me how drastically my life had changed in the past several weeks.  No more than a month ago, I had been a pretty normal teenager.  Going to school, hanging out with my friends, with thoughts of college and a career somewhere in my distant future.

And now look at me!  Look where I was!  Look what I was doing!  Flying on the back of a freaking Phoenix, surrounded by people who could transform into dragons and wildcats at will.  And on my way to do something so drastic that it would change the course of history—for better or for worse.

This had been the most incredible month of my life and, no matter what happened next, no matter if things got ugly or went horribly wrong, I wouldn't have exchanged it for the world.

I focused on that one, single thought as we began to lose altitude, dropping below the clouds, Atlanta appearing as an endless sprawl of lights in the distance...

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I drifted through the darkness like a shadow, like a ghost.  All my senses were on alert, my long whiskers pressed forward, ears twitching as I picked up the sound of distant car alarms and unseen creatures scurrying around my feet.  My wildcat form moved with a seamless, fluid grace, each step flowing naturally into the next, never pausing or hesitating.  Never breaking its stride.  Never making the faintest whisper of sound.

I've heard Atlanta is a beautiful city.  Active and vibrant, filled with dozens of tourist attractions.  A big zoo.  An even bigger aquarium.  Museums and expensive restaurants and fancy, opulent hotels.

But, I wasn't here for tourist traps or fancy restaurants.  I was worlds away from all that.

Here, the streets were covered in potholes and bits of loose gravel.  Garbage piled up in every corner.  Colourful graffiti decorated almost every wall.  I picked up the smell of rotting food, cigarette smoke, and ammonia.  Rats scurried around in the shadows.  I had to step carefully to avoid broken needles and glass.

It was the type of place that would have terrified me in human form.  The type of place that any sane, reasonable person would do their best to avoid.  If my mother could somehow look through my eyes right now and see where I was... what I was doing... she would probably have a heart attack.

But, my wildcat felt no fear.  It was calm.  Focused.  Confident.  All the doubts and questions and "what if" scenarios that plagued my thoughts in human form seem to have vanished.  The wildcat saw no use for such things.  It didn't think or reflect.  It only reacted.